Yup. Stupid stupid.

Last summer, I was working on getting a GXL project car with a 0 mile Mazda reman engine running. I was having no success, and since the car was in Chicago (and I live in Iowa), I didn't have much time to work on it. Last time I filled it with coolant, I'm pretty sure I just put plain water in. I knew I was going to have to break the coolant system again to replace some hoses before I took it to Iowa, if I ever got it running, and I didn't really feel like dumping more coolant everywhere. I proceeded to forget this minor fact.

Today, I'm working on it again. And... I looked in the radiator to see nice clear water. It's warm enough that it's liquid, but it was well below freezing for quite a while.

Is there an easy way to find out if the coolant system is breached? I don't have access to a pressure tester, but I could probably find a way to seal a bike pump on the system & see what it does. I'm debating trying to get it running (I found out the old fuel injectors were bad to the point of not even cycling, which is why it wasn't getting fuel), but if the irons are cracked, I might just destroy some salvagable parts.

Any thoughts? I'm aware that most likely I've destroyed the engine, and I'm not terribly bothered by that fact (annoyed, because it was a 0 mile engine), but I do have a number of spare housings, irons, and if it is a 0 mile engine all the hard seals should be reusable (unless it's rusted everything into a solid mass).

-=Russ=-

 

did the freeze plugs blow??, i guess it wouldnt hurt things to try and crank it over see what happens

 

see if it still turn over.

 

these plugs are NOT designed to pop, they are core plugs that are there to block of the holes left when the part was cast, some cars have screw in plugs so there aint no chance they will pop.
i have seen blocks crack before these pop, why do people keep thinking they are designed to blow to protect the engine, it is a common myth and you can be sure your block will crack and these will remain firmly in place

 

Well, update. I finally got the car to run (the old fuel injectors were bad, they didn't even cycle, the timing was retarded by a tooth or so, and I had more than a few vacuum leaks feeding my intake system). It runs on both rotors, doesn't seem to be blasting coolant out the cap, and generally seems to be behaving fairly well.

Thinking about it, I don't think the block actually had pure water in it. I filled it with 50/50 when I was working on it in North Carolina, and then drained it from the lower hose & just used water when I filled it up again (so I didn't make as much of a mess on the driveway the next time). There was probably still coolant left in the block.

-=Russ=-

 

I'm going to drain the oil tomorrow & see if it's milky at all. There was some milky stuff at the top of the oil fill tube, but the car sat long enough and through enough weather that it could just be condensation.

-=Russ=-

 

With the coolant in liquid form, if you crank the engine (without starting) and remove your plugs you should see no water deposits.

I agree with the above, the block will usually break before the plugs will push out. I've seen 3"x3" sections of iron (on the inside sealing surface) break off due to freezing.

 

ive seen engines that have frozen and had these poped before.engine was still toast oviously but they did pop

 

When I pulled the plugs, there was only gas on them (this was before I managed to get it started). I cranked it a bit with the plugs removed to clear the chambers, and only got gas vapor, no coolant. And it doesn't seem to be drinking coolant - I ran it for a bit and the coolant level stayed the same. So I'm thinking it's probably OK. I assume a cracked block from freezing would leak rather quickly?

-=Russ=-

 

Yes, you'll definitely know if it's cracked...loss of compression almost immediately after you begin turning it, because side and/or corner seals will get eaten up. Plus coolant loss, flooding, and pressure in the coolant system. And possibly even oil and coolant mixing.

 

purely luck, they are not designed to and 99% of the time do not pop they are there ONLY to block off casting holes, hence why some vehicles have screw in types

 

sounds like you lucked out.